Lincoln Rarities, Éluard-Breton Association Copy, Superman #1: Auction Preview

Here are the sales I'll be watching through the end of May:

At Dominic Winter Auctioneers on Wednesday, May 21, 480 lots of Photographs, Postcards & Posters, Autographs, Documents & Ephemera, including about 1,000 postcards of the Seychelles from the collection of Sue Hopson (£7,000–10,000), from which several other lots in this sale are also drawn. A Sebastião Salgado vintage gelatin silver print from his 1985 series of photos taken in Mali is estimated at £2,500–3,500, and a Frank Hurley photograph of the Endurance taken December 1914, inscribed by expedition biologist Robert Selbie Clark is expected to sell for £2,000–3,000.

Freeman's | Hindman holds a Chicago sale on May 21, Lincoln's Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln, in 144 lots. A pair of leather gloves carried by Lincoln on the night of his assassination rate the top estimate at $800,000–1,200,000. The earliest known surviving example of Lincoln's handwriting, a leaf from a childhood sum book, is expected to sell for $300,000–400,000. The only known copy of Lincoln's first printed work, an 1837 campaign handbill, is estimated at $200,000–300,000; at the same estimate range is the manuscript of Lincoln's "bass-ackwards" story. This material comes from the collection of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Foundation: a statement from the Foundation on March 25 indicates that "Proceeds from the sale will be used to satisfy our obligation to retire the outstanding loan balance from the Foundation's purchase of the collection. Any excess funds will go toward our continued care and display of our extensive collection."

At Christie's Paris on Thursday, May 22, Cabinet des livres de Pierre Brossette, in 148 lots. Henri Matisse's Jazz (1947) rates the top estimate at €200,000–300,000. Paul Éluard's copy of André Breton's L'Air de l'eau (1934), inscribed to him by Breton and with six original drawings by Giacommetti and other additions, could sell for €150,000–250,000. At the same range are a superb copy of the 1755–1759 editions of La Fontaine's Fables choises, illustrated by Jean-Baptiste Oudry, bound for Maria Feodorovna, later Empress of Russia; and Joan Miró and Paul Éluard's À toute épreuve (1958), this copy inscribed by Miró to Dominique Éluard.

PBA Galleries sells The DC Universe Collection Part 5: Gold, Silver and Bronze on May 22, in 500 lots. A copy of Superman #1 (1939) is expected to lead the way at $40,000–60,000.

On Thursday, May 29, Chiswick Auctions sells 207 lots of Books & Works on Paper, including a copy of Choiseul-Goufflier's Voyage Pittoresque de la Grece (1782), which shares the top estimate of £4,000–6,000 with a purple proof copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

At Forum Auctions on May 29, 367 lots of Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper, with a first edition of Darwin's Origin rating the top estimate at £50,000–70,000. Petrus Apianus' Cosmographicus (1524) with many of the original volvelles is expected to sell for £40,000–60,000. The sale also includes a Grolier binding (£15,000–20,000).

Swann Galleries sells Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books on May 29, including Prince Maximilian and Karl Bodmer's Travels in the Interior of North America (1839–1841), estimated at $400,000–500,000. George Vancouver's Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World (1798) could sell for $18,000–22,000.

At PBA Galleries on May 29, 448 lots of Modern Literature – Mysteries, Thrillers, Sci-fi & Fantasy, with a first issue copy of John Steinbeck's Cup of Gold (1929) and a signed first edition of James Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) each rating the top estimate at $10,000–15,000.